Swansea 0 Liverpool 0: Michael Laudrup keeps Luis Suarez in check

Swansea manager Michael Laudrup winces after a near miss against Liverpool

We know the philosophy of both teams and it cancelled things out

Swansea boss Michael Laudrup

Otherwise it was an afternoon where lots of things nearly happened – but nothing actually did.

If Brendan Rogers wanted to come back to the club where he forged his reputation and show them why he had to leave, his new Liverpool team are still far too much a work in progress for that to happen.

If Joe Allen had hoped he’d show why he couldn’t turn his back on a £15m move to Anfield, it never quite worked either.

And if Swansea fans thought their progress under Michael Laudrup would make Allen wish he’d stayed behind, then they still weren’t good enough.

It wasn’t that both teams were not trying to play football.

The passing was lovely, the movement fascinating and the intensity high.

There was even some good old- fashioned humour from the home fans when Pepe Reina was down injured.

“He’s your best diver, put Suarez in goal,” they sang.

Beyond that it was more of a chess game than a football match as Rodgers and Laudrup pitted their tactical wits.

“We know the philosophy of both teams and it cancelled things out,” admitted Laudrup.

“From the outside it might seem like a good football match, but I always think you want to see some goals in a game.”

He was right. While somebody might have once written a hit song about a quarrel between two chess grandmasters – One Night in Bangkok – in the end One Afternoon in the Gower didn’t quite measure up for a sequel.

Ultimately, Rodgers could be happy that his club’s unbeaten run now stretches to eight games in the Premier League.

In fact, only Manchester City – unbeaten for the season – have now gone longer without losing.

But his big problem is that he needs to start winning and if Luis Suarez isn’t getting goals for him then nobody is.

A third of the way into his first season, Rodgers is still experimenting.

Yesterday’s big move was to switch Stewart Downing to left- back with his normal No.3, Jose Enrique, operating in front of him.

It seemed bizarre – you take an admittedly out-of-form England winger out of position and shuffle a top-class full-back into the wrong place too.

But it almost worked – Enrique would have got the only goal of the game just before half-time when he got onto the end of a superb Suarez pass only to have the effort ruled out for a marginal offside decision.

Downing is one of those players that Liverpool’s last manager, Kenny Dalglish, spent huge money on and he’s currently struggling to justify the £20m fee.

As a defender he completely misjudged a header from a routine clearance by Swans keeper Gerhard Tremmel that left Pablo Hernandez room to set up an early chance for Itay Schechter.

But if that went badly, then Enrique was a threat going forward, picking little passes to find holes in Swansea’s defence.

And he played a brilliant return pass that sent Glen Johnson clear after 24 minutes only for the England full-back to be denied by Tremmel’s save.

But Swansea weren’t without chances. Steven Gerrard, of all people, made a dreadful mistake, trying to play a little back-heel on the edge of his own box but gave it to Angel Rangel – luckily for him Jonathan de Guzman horribly sliced the chance.

Johnson and Raheem Sterling were effective on the right – the 17-year-old opened a chance for Suarez, who was denied by Rangel’s block, and from the corner he rattled the crossbar.

But the longer the game wore on, the more the two teams cancelled each other out. Stalemate, to use the chess term.